Kunitz Covered Bridge

Until 1832 Kunitz could only be reached by ferry. People died again and again in ferry accidents. According to tradition, on April 4, 1829, seven students had an accident on their way back to Jena after visiting the Kunitzburg. Among the three fatally injured was Georg Friedrich Semper, younger brother of Johann Carl and Gottfried Semper (German architect and art theorist, co-founder of modern theater architecture).

The Kunitz pastor then pushed for a planned new bridge construction. Instead of erecting a memorial at the site of the accident, he convinced Johann to invest the money in building a new bridge. Through further donations and a loan from the state administration, the total amount of 4000 thalers was finally raised and a 35 meter long covered wooden bridge was subsequently built. Incidentally, a bridging fee was charged to refinance the loan. The bridge was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in the last weeks of the war in 1945...

...destroyed.
The historic wooden house bridge was rebuilt in 2012 on the pillars of a temporary bridge that served as a temporary replacement for the Kunitz road bridge in 2011 while it was being renovated, and was inaugurated in November 2012. The house bridge is the only wooden bridge that spans the Saale. Every year on October 3rd, German Unity Day, the bridge festival is organized by the Kunitz Bridge and Monument Association. There is a smaller version of the Kunitz House Bridge, which was built in 2006 by trainees from the Bildungswerk Bau Hessen-Thüringen e.V. Training and Further Education Center Jena for the Kunitz Bridge and Monument Association. It has been located between Graitschen and Bürgel since September 2008 and spans the tracks. The Gleistal cycle path leads over this bridge.